AmMay"ifo5arm'}  The  Importance  of  Insurance.  225 
with  the  dictates  of  common  sense,  prudence  and  good  business 
judgment  as  a  protection  against  loss  by  fire,  which  may  occur  at 
any  time  and  usually  when  least  expected,  but  also  for  the  peace  of 
mind  and  sense  of  security  which  it  affords. 
When  you  are  properly  insured  you  will  not  be  greatly  excited 
every  time  you  see  a  chimney  on  fire  or  smoke  issuing  from  the 
doors  and  windows  of  a  neighboring  house  when  they  are  making 
their  morning  fire,  or  when  you  hear  the  sound  of  the  bells  of  a  fire 
engine  passing  in  the  immediate  vicinity. 
Many  persons  are  often  deterred  from  taking  out  fire  insurance 
because  they  imagine  they  are  so  careful  and  watchful  in  the  man- 
agement of  their  fires  that  the  occurrence  of  a  destructive  fire  upon 
their  premises  is  next  to  an  impossibility.  Hence,  they  repose  in 
confidence,  inspired  by  a  false  sense  of  security,  and  apparently  un- 
mindful of  the  fact  that  neighbors,  their  servants  and  employees 
may  not  all  be  such  careful  and  prudent  folks  as  themselves. 
When  I  first  started  in  business  I  was,  like  many  other  young 
men,  rather  careless  and  indifferent  about  fire  insurance.  In  those 
days,  however,  insurance  was  not  so  popular  and  people  did  not  pay 
the  same  attention  to  it  as  they  do  nowadays,  so  I  conducted  my 
business  for  a  number  of  years  without  any  insurance,  either  upon 
the  stock  and  fixtures  of  my  store  or  upon  my  household  goods,  an 
omission  which  I  now  consider  an  important  mistake  of  my  life ; 
fortunately,  however,  no  evil  results  followed.  I  was  influenced  in 
the  matter  by  just  such  erroneous  and  misleading  notions  as  I  have 
mentioned  above,  although  on  one  or  two  occasions  I  came  very 
near  having  a  fire  in  my  cellar  which,  if  it  had  not  been  extinguished 
in  time,  might  have  stripped  me  of  all  my  earthly  possessions. 
Notwithstanding  this  timely  warning,  I  still  neglected  from  day 
to  day  my  insurance,  until  one  cold  and  blustery  morning  I  noticed 
smoke  issuing  in  dense  volumes  from  a  neighbor's  chimney  only  a 
short  distance  away,  and  the  wind  blowing  quite  a  gale  in  the  direc- 
tion of  my  store.  I  became  alarmed,  naturally,  until  I  ascertained 
that  it  was  simply  the  chimney  that  was  on  fire.  I  hastened  at  once 
to  the  office  of  a  reliable  insurance  company  and  secured  a  suitable 
policy  which  covered  my  household  goods  as  well  as  my  stock  and 
fixtures,  which  insurance  I  maintained  ever  afterwards. 
An  ambitious  and  industrious  young  man  may  commence  and 
by  close  attention  build  up  quite  a  prosperous  business — a  fire  occurs 
